Thursday, January 15, 2009

We are 2nd in the world for IT kicks!

I guess many Singaporeans must have been pleasantly surprised by the results of a Nielsen survey done recently to gauge the use of Technology products and the use of the internet.

We have been ranked 2nd out of a 52 country survey thumping nations like the USA, Japan and Australia!

Only the Philippines was ahead of us. That too may have surprised many of us. Were you one of them?

For this story in My Paper which appeared on Thursday 8 January, Unk Dicko was interviewed by reporter Kenny Chee.

What was not mentioned in the article owing to space?

Unk Dicko has set up a webcam for video communication between family members and friends. I have also bought a full Wii game system as a present for my grandkids and set it up myself in my home. We have since then been having lots of superb FUN, SCREAMS, CHEERINGS and YELLS whoever is playing and whoever is watching. Even my little 3 year old grandson can't wait for his turn to "Bowl". He has had a couple of "STRIKES ...amazing! "

Those of you who has Wii can fully understand my excitement ( underrated ).

Those who have not tried it...you have truly missed something spectacular and unique.

Wait for my more detailed post about Wii and what I think from my specialised background as a Sports teacher and coach.

3 comments:

Seriously Unk Dick, do you think it is such a good idea for our kids to spend so much time on IT and other indoor activities? I thot you of all people would encourage your grand kids to spend more time outdoors.

The other day, there was a newspaper report saying that our kids' eyesight problems could be due (partly) to insufficient exposure to the sunlight. I think there might be some truth in it. All 3 of my kids for example do not need glasses. Besides heredity, it could be due to my wife and I making sure they know how to enjoy outdoors and nature from young. We don't have computer games like XBox, Nintendo in our home. I know it can be quite fun, but if it is at the expense of outdoor activities, I think I will much prefer to dump the Xbox.

Haha...C See relax a little lah. Unk Dicko has always been an otdoor and nature lover. But it doesn't mean I am anti-indoor activity.As in everything in life, there must be GOOD BALANCE...too much of one thing or too little of another is seldom beneficial or even productive.My grandsons spend lots of time outdoors with their parents and also with me. They go for walks, play in the parks, nature ramble, tadpole-catching,spider catching,Sentosa swimming,Swimming under my coaching at my club,cycling,ball games, etc..Children also need to be usefully occupied indoors esp when it is VERY HOT outside and when it is night. There are hundreds of things to occupy them indoors...and Wii is but ONLY one of those things ( but a huge PLUS !).As I said I will blog about it fully later..esp how parents and grandparents can make use of it to IMPROVE their kids behaviour, attitude and kinectic awareness. Whatever kids do, whether playing Wii or watching TV etc..their time should be controlled. So, there is always CONTROL! Not unlimited play as in everything else.Therein lies the answer to your poser... CONTROL and BALANCE.It is pretty much the same when they are on the computer. All kids undergo IT lessons in school. Computers, TV, Gameboxes,Ipods,Handphones, etc..are now very much part of this New Age we are living in. We can't simply ignore or discourage their use. Yes, in our time, we did not have such distractions and spent much time in the outdoors and sun.Just look at how many people from our time are wearing specs!!, from as young as in their 20's and 30's then.So, for many of our generation it was not due to lack of sunlight. The what? Even if you have enough sunlight, your vision will start to deteriorate if you NEGLECT the other CAUSES!What other causes?Poor reading habits,Poor lighting,Overstraining,No knowledge about eye care,Lack of eye exercise,No " micro-focussing",Improper nutrition,No eye,facial massage, etc..I have GIVEN some MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE to improve poor VISION in a couple of blogposts.It has worked for me 100% !Of course, I still follow my own advice closely.And what is that?Pl revisit the link to that post.